The Tylt

This may seem like a very obvious sentiment for most people—one would assume people would prefer to find their true love in nonvirtual settings such as bars or parties, something which 83.8 percent of Tylt voters expressed themselves. Again, by itself this percentage would seem pretty unimpressive; when compared to The Tylt’s other dating data, however, this makes for a more informative narrative.

When voting on whether they believe dating apps are for hookups or for love, an overwhelming 80 percent chose the former. In fact, 55.4 percent of voters claim that going online to date is a fruitless endeavor all together. The juxtaposition of each question’s findings reveals a generation looking for human interaction in a world that’s more and more divided by machines. This speaks to a greater trend in younger audiences—the extreme desire (and perhaps even eventual move) from scaling back from a life online and more to organic interactions.

This isn’t to say that Millennials and Gen Z have eschewed dating apps altogether—over half of Tylt visitors vote in favor of apps like Bumble over Tinder (interestingly enough, 87.5 percent of the voters of this particular debate were male). Additionally, over 77.8 percent claim they wouldn’t be embarrassed to admit they met their partner online. But this is more indicative of people who are trying their best to navigate relationships with the tools they have, all the while disliking said tools. It’s romantically biting the bullet.

In a life increasingly dominated by screens, the outlook for lovelorn Millennials and Gen Z searching for in-person courting looks bleak. At least there’s still a strong belief in love at first sight.